LONDON Mayor Sadiq Khan clashed with Tory London Assembly member Shaun Bailey over his plans to increase support funds for victims of knife crime after an increase in violence in the Capital.

London’s death toll this year rose to over 62 since the beginning of the year putting increasing pressure on Sadiq Khan to deliver on new solutions to crack down on violent crime.

London Assembly member Shaun Bailey confronted the Mayor during a heated exchange about funds to provide support to victims of knife crime.

Mr Bailey said: "All your press releases talk about extra-urgent £10bn that the Government has given you access to so could we have some detail about what you are going to do about it?

"You and I both know that getting on top of victims support will make a significant difference to the amount of knife crime we have in our town here in London.

LONDON ASSEMBLY

London Mayor Sadiq Khan was questioned about his plans to help knife-crime victims

"You are in a prime position to do something about this. Can I please ask you for some detail about what you will do with the Metropolitan Police about proceedings happening in London against people who commit knife crimes?"

The Tory politician was repeatedly forced to bring Mr Khan back on topic after the London Mayor diverged into discussing general funds made available to police and support services to tackle knife crime.

Mr Bailey continued: "Mr Mayor I don’t mean to be rude but that isn’t the question I asked you. And I did use the word access – I didn’t act like someone sent you a check.

"You’re giving me details I don’t need you’ve already spoken about those – I can get them elsewhere. I just want to focus on victim support. That’s all I’m asking, just about victim support."

Mr Khan did ultimately answer the question, saying he had committed London to invest £47m between 2018 and 2021 to support services while also providing funds to a new anti-knife crime taskforce.

He said: "On victim support what I’m doing differently in committing £47m of funds to direct services to support victims of crime over the next three years.

"What I’m doing differently is increasing the amount of victim support more than 15 percent from the previous mayor.

"Separately there’s money we have invested with young people, which is being done differently, so £7m last year for anti-knife crime projects and an additional £45m over the next three years on the young Londoners fund."